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His name might sound a little funny, but that's because he's a registered Quarter Horse! You can find his pedigree here: Badger's Family Tree
Badger was originally rescued and rehabbed by some very compassionate folks, just about a year ago. He was a walking skeleton when he was first found, but as he filled out and perked up, he became playful, friendly and very interested in the people around him. In super shape for his age, he was adopted out...first to live in a nice boarding facility, where he got regularly visited, and then his owner moved to a home where he could be kept on the property. Since he was gaining weight and everything seemed fine, his adopter checkups were gradually allowed to get further apart.
Unfortunately, after a six-month gap of not checking up on his new owner, the woman contacted his original rescuer and said she needed to find him a new home. Life issues and all that. With the economy the way it is, it's understandable...plenty of people have been losing their jobs, and horses are big animals to feed. I found Badger's ad and contacted the rescuer, a very concerned lady by the name of Nikki. We set up a meeting date for him and one other horse she was also helping place.
The reality, however, set in when we stepped through that gate...
I'd like to pause for a moment and note that I am not, by any means, an expert on horse care. I'm still learning and am very happy for the chance to do so. However.
The ground was littered with scattered piles of dung. The fence was some kind of cruel joke, made of chain-link fence topped with a few strands of barbed wire. Open on the pen was some sort of mini-barn (for pigs, possibly?) that was dangerously dilapidated, with doors lying on the ground, shards of wood jutting from the walls, and garbage covering the floor; tires, empty feed bags, broken boards and more. The front and back yard both had a scattering of trash, dung, and broken toys as well.
None of that made a difference, however, because the horse standing there in that pen barely moved. When we first arrived, he neighed, almost seeming surprised to see people. Admittedly, I was a stranger and Nikki hadn't seen him in months. After that, though, he simply stood there. I was surprised to see a horse with his nylon halter on (note: this is extremely dangerous because the horse cannot free himself if the halter should happen to catch on something), but since it wasn't my horse I was a bit dumbfounded out of saying anything.
About the only spark I saw in him was when the rescuer angrily called the current owner (she wasn't home, we were visiting the property by ourselves) and she and her friend finally found the one bag of hay cubes among the pile of discarded empty sacks. He definitely recognized what the bag was, as those nickers as they brought the bag out were the only other noise he made during our whole visit.
It was about then that I realized that some of what was on the ground wasn't poop piles, but unsoaked, uneaten rectangular hay cubes. We filled his little plastic tub with some of them and he was trying to eat them even while we had the faucet turned on to add some water, though he kept dropping them until the water could soak in enough to loosen them up. Another angry phone call, specifically instructing the woman to put the cubes in water because he was having trouble chewing them.
We left after that, since he wasn't interested in anything aside from getting that pellet mash into his stomach. I drove with Nikki and Elaine to go see the other horse that we were going to see that day, but my mind was still on Badger. The other horse was nice and had plenty of go, but it wasn't the connection I was looking for...thankfully the other woman who'd shown up to visit her did decide to take her in.
I suggested then that I could take Badger on a trial basis, board him at the ranch I was volunteering at, and get his weight up...I felt he deserved a chance to get back into shape, and I'd like the opportunity to find out if his real personality would match with mine. Not very easy to see when the only two things on his mind are "hungry" and "depressed."
